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GLOUCESTER, MA | Gloucester Engineering Co. Inc. (GEC) has announced that Sigma Plastics Group of Lyndhurst, NJ, has purchased a new GEC 9-up cast film line to be installed at its Shelbyville, KY, location. The new line will allow Sigma to produce up to nine rolls of stretch film at a time—with each roll being as much as 20 in. wide.

The new cast film line is a turnkey production cell and includes an Extrol control system with Automatic Profile Control Software, Contracool extruders with complete auxiliaries (central vacuum material loading systems, blenders, screws, screen changers, etc.), dies, casting unit, an IR thickness gauge, edge trim station, and winder. As is typical with all major purchases of GEC equipment, the company will provide Sigma with system engineering, installation supervision, start-up and training. The new line is scheduled for delivery to Sigma in June 2013.

“Gloucester Engineering has been working with Sigma Stretch Film since 1993 when they were a new player entering the stretch film market,” said Carl Johnson, president of GEC. Today, Sigma is one of the largest stretch film producers in the world. “We’ve both grown from humble beginnings that for Sigma started with two garment film lines purchased from GEC in 1978,” said Johnson.“Sigma has since grown to be one of the largest and most diverse film and sheet manufacturers in the world, and GEC is honored to have been a significant partner in their growth.”

Sigma, ranked #2 in the latest ranking of North American Film and Sheet Manufacturers by Plastics News (September 24, 2012), has annual sales of $2.4 billion. The company produces a wide variety of extruded polyethylene film and bag products from 38 plants throughout North America. It has over 450 extruders, most of them GEC machines, running over 1.7 billion lbs. of material a year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“We have grown our business and entered new markets using GEC technology over the years,” said Alfred Teo, CEO of Sigma Plastics. “We trust them to provide us with market insight as well as the greatest overall value both now and in the future.”

This latest Sigma purchase is due to the company’s need to increase capacity, said Per Nylen, executive VP Sigma Stretch Film. “We are busy expanding, and the new cast film line is required to support our growth. We know the GEC machine is a durable workhorse and that it will push as many pounds an hour 20 years from now as it did the day it was commissioned,” he said.

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